IOJET - International Online Journal of Education and Teaching
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THE EFFECT OF TWO MODES OF INSTRUCTION: MODELING VS. PRESENTATIONAL
No full textWe implemented an intervention of four lessons and tested the effects of two instructional modes as compared to the regular curriculum practices for completing a synthesis task at the preparatory program of a Turkish university. Participants were 48 upper-intermediate EFL learners (mean age=18) assigned to three conditions. The presentational condition received direct strategy instruction supported by mnemonics; the modeling condition observed a video of a peer doing the task using the same strategies mnemonic. In the control condition, there was no explicit reference to strategies; rather, students inferred the necessary information about writing an effective synthesis text from the instruction and the lesson materials. We hypothesized that both of the experimental conditions would have a positive effect on students’ synthesis text quality and writing processes and that modeling of explicit strategy use would have an effect over and above the other conditions. Results showed that students in the modeling condition improved their source use skills significantly more than students in the presentational condition, which was maintained in the delayed posttest four weeks later. No statistically significant condition effect was observed for content and authenticity of students’ texts. The modeling condition also showed and reported a more process-oriented approach to writing.
DIGITAL COMPETENCE IN PRIMARY EDUCATION: A REVIEW OF LEARNING OUTCOMES
No full textThis paper examines the current status of digital competence indicators in the Turkish primary school curricula. The European Commission had long been studying on developing a common digital competence framework for citizens and in 2016 a revised framework was published to be used as a reference in various sectors as well as education. In most official papers the importance of digital competence is highly stressed and studies to provide students with these skills are carried out by Turkish Ministry of National Education (MONE) and other governmental institutes. In this paper we explore the indicators of digital competence standards in the Turkish primary education. We identified the curricula of three compulsory subjects and analyzed the learning outcomes of these curricula to understand the place of digital competence standards in curricula and in which competence areas are emphasized mostly. The review was conducted using the curricula of three subject areas in primary education: the Turkish language, mathematics and personal and social development. The review of the learning outcomes in these curricula shows that 7, 5 % of learning outcomes emphasizes digital competence in the Turkish language curricula while this rate is %4 in mathematics and personal and social development subject areas when the top rates are considered. It is seen that most digital competence areas are ignored in each subject; communication and collaboration is totally excluded in all three subjects while data and information literacy was included in merely Turkish language curriculum; safety competence area was stated only in personal and social development curriculum and Mathematics curriculum contained learning outcomes merely related to the problem solving
THE INTEGRATION OF CORPUS INTO EFL SPEAKING INSTRUCTION: A STUDY OF LEARNER PERCEPTIONS
No full textRecent years have shown a growing interest in using corpora in language instruction, enhancing data-driven learning (DDL) pedagogy by promoting the use of tools and techniques of corpus linguistics in language classrooms. Many studies have tested the impact of corpus tools in EFL writing or vocabulary instruction; however, little attention has been paid to the integration of corpus tools into EFL speaking instruction. This paper describes a small-scale study of corpus use in enhancing English speaking performance of EFL learners with a focus on their perceptions towards web-based concordancing. Drawn in accordance with convenience sampling procedures, the participants of the study were 31 university level EFL learners who experienced DDL activities in the speaking classroom. Data collected through a post-instruction perception questionnaire were analysed using descriptive statistics. Results indicated that students benefited from concordance based learning activities, and also hold positive attitudes towards using it in learning speaking. The findings also point out some challenges to overcome while using web-based concordancing in EFL instruction. Keywords: EFL learners, data-driven learning (DDL), web-based concordancing, learner perceptions, speakin
VIEWS OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHER CANDIDATES ABOUT PEDAGOGICAL FORMATION CERTIFICATE PROGRAMS IN TURKEY
No full textThis particular small-scale research tries to scrutinize the teacher training practices and the quality of Pedagogical Formation ELT Certificate Programs from the perspectives of teacher candidates. In this respect, those teacher candidates’ views about the issue will be taken through a questionnaire consisting of 5-point Likert-type items and an open-ended section. The data were analyzed by descriptive statistics as well as content analysis. The number of participants is 63. Some of the participants were currently enrolled in the pedagogical formation program when the study was conducted and some of them were graduates of the programs with several years of teaching experience. The results indicate that the pedagogical formation program helped the participants improve themselves to a certain extent. Another important finding of the study was that the participants who are employed as teachers and have several years of experience valued the outcomes of the pedagogical formation program more than the prospective teachers. Finally, the study also indicated that more teaching practice is needed.
TURKISH PRE-SERVICE EFL TEACHERS’ PERCEPTIONS OF CREATIVITY
No full textCreativity is considered one of the key 21st century skills and has received an increasing amount of attention in the field of education. How teachers perceive creativity has a significant impact on their pedagogical practices to stimulate student creativity in the classroom. The present exploratory study, based on a qualitative approach, aimed to investigate pre-service English teachers’ perceptions of creativity. Analysis of data coming from a semi-structured focus-group interview with eight pre-service teachers revealed their perception of creativity as being different and unique, having extraordinary ideas and being able to produce original outcomes. The participants posited that creativity was innate to some extent and environmental factors such as family environment, cultural background and school education contributed to its development later in life. They suggested using open-ended, communicative, and collaborative tasks in English classrooms to foster student creativity. As prospective teachers, they perceived themselves creative to some extent, but felt unprepared to teach creativity. Finally, they all agreed on the facilitative role of teacher education in helping PTs teach creatively and develop an understanding of teaching creativity.
PRONUNCIATION PROBLEMS OF TURKISH EFL LEARNERS IN NORTHERN CYPRUS
No full textThis study investigated the pronunciation problems of Turkish EFL learners in state schools in Girne, the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus. Thirty high-school students participated in the study. The researcher collected data through a pronunciation test and school visitations. The purpose of the pronunciation test was to elicit pronunciation problems of Turkish EFL learners. The performance of thirty participants was video-recorded. In order to increase the validity of the results, two native raters listened to the recordings and rated the problematic sounds as correct or incorrect. After data collection, Microsoft Excel was used to calculate the coded and analyzed data, and SPSS (Version 20) was used to find the percentages and the frequencies of the data. The findings indicate that Turkish EFL learners have serious problems in pronouncing certain English consonants (i.e., /θ/, /ð/, /w/, /v/, /ŋ/) and some English vowels and diphthongs (i.e., /ı/, /ʊ/, /ᴐ:/, /ƏƱ/, /aƱ/). Mother tongue interference seems to be the main cause of these errors since Turkish lacks most of these sounds. Moreover, lack of sufficient exposure to target language and inadequacy in training can also be potential causes of these errors as most of the participants have never heard or practiced the correct pronunciation of these sounds. Therefore, they tend to produce incorrect sounds, instead. Similarly, English spelling may have played an important role in students’ mispronunciation. The results of the study are thought to be useful for teachers who teach English to Turkish EFL learners in Northern Cyprus
WORD FAMILIARITY EFFECTS IN EFL READING: AN EYE TRACKING STUDY
No full textDo you know what happens in mind when we encounter a novel word while reading a newspaper, a paragraph or a short story? Via eye tracking technique, this study aimed to gather clues about how our mind reacts to an unknown word while we read in another language by examining word familiarity effects on eye movements during EFL reading. After a vocabulary test, eye movements of 60 EFL learners at intermediate level were recorded while they read identical sentence pairs including words with different length and frequency. The results showed that (1) total time spent on words and reanalysis times were predicted by vocabulary knowledge, (2) initial word processing was not predicted by vocabulary size (3) unfamiliar words attended more attention and required more cognitive effort than familiar words, (4) familiar words are processed in similar time spans for English as L1 and L2 but unfamiliar words cause more cognitive load in EFL. The results were discussed in comparison to L1 eye movement research in reading and were evaluated regarding EFL reading in terms of noticing hypothesis, incidental vocabulary acquisition and EFL reading instruction.
EDUCATION OF THE GIRL-CHILD IN NIGERIA FOR A JUST, PEACEFUL, HARMONIOUS SOCIETY AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
No full textInternational instruments, declarations and local laws set the pace for appropriate human development, peace and harmony.10.5 million children in Nigeria are out of school; approximately 60 percent are girls (UNICEF, 2014). They are dropouts due to various factors: socio-cultural, economic, governance etc. vulnerable to forms of abuses, harms- female genital mutilation, insurgency effects and other negative influences which deny her rights and dignity are discussed. Assessments of education statistics at basic education level over (1990-2010) revealed imbalances in enrolments and gender disparity in favour of males and the education statistics from 2014 to 2016, revealed increases in enrolments and a gender parity index ranging from 0.80 to 1.0. Various government efforts and interventions by international development partners to bridge the gender gap and heal the harms are enumerated. Benefits of educating the girl child which are critical for the development of a just, peaceful, harmonious society for sustainable development are highlighted. Recommendations included: ensuring the rights of the girl child, (development, participation protection and survival), sustaining gender equity, government`s strong political will, more funding for education, international aid, empowering girls/women with various life skills, ensuring girls retention and completion in school, effective implementation of the National policy on gender in basic education etc.
NEW TECHNOLOGIES IN MICRO TEACHINGS: IS IT POSSIBLE FOR WEB 2.0 TOOLS TO AFFECT PROSPECTIVE TEACHERS’ WEB PEDAGOGICAL CONTENT KNOWLEDGE AND TEACHER SELF-EFFICACY?
No full textThe purpose of this study was to determine the effect of Web 2.0 tools applied in microteachings on prospective teachers’ web pedagogical content knowledge and teacher self-efficacy, and to examine their views on the procedure. This research used mixed research design and was conducted with 24 prospective teachers who participated in teacher training certificate program in Faculty of Education in a state university in Turkey. Web pedagogical content knowledge scale, teacher self-efficacy scale, and an open-ended question form were used as data collection tools. Paired samples t-test and Pearson correlation analysis were applied for the analysis of quantitative data; content analysis was used to analyze the qualitative data. The findings showed that there was a significant difference on prospective teachers’ web pedagogical content knowledge and teacher self-efficacy levels after Web 2.0 tools implementation. The research also concluded that there was a medium level positive relation between teacher candidates’ web pedagogical content knowledge and teacher self-efficacy. They stated that it was easy to use these tools, learning was fun, easy, and permanent, and they actively involved in instructional time. They added that they were eager to apply Web 2.0 tools in their future classrooms
THE EFFECTIVENESS OF PROJECT-BASED LEARNING ON SCIENCE EDUCATION: A META-ANALYSIS SEARCH
No full textThe present study aims to demonstrate, by means of a meta-analysis, the effectiveness of Project-Based Learning in the context of academic performance and various study characteristics. For this purpose, the relevant literature was reviewed to identify studies using Project-Based Learning in the fields of physics, chemistry, biology, and science. Following the literature review, the study characteristics and the criteria for their inclusion were determined. A total of 48 studies were included and, by means of the analyses conducted, the general effect size of Project-Based Learning in science education was found to be 1.063. This is quite a large effect size by Cohen’s criteria and it shows that Project-Based Learning is 86% more effective in science education compared to traditional learning approaches. Project-Based Learning was found to have a great effect size in different subjects (physics, chemistry, biology, and science), at different levels (primary, secondary, and tertiary), and with samples of various sizes (small, medium, and large). Project-Based Learning can thus be deemed more effective compared to traditional learning approaches.